Remember how we used to be regaled with fairy tales about fantastical lands magically appearing in the middle of the sea overnight? What’s a mere fairy tale to most of us is actually an ugly reality to some of our countrymen who literally see reclaimed lands rapidly growing in their midst with very little local government regulation.
Fortunately for the people of Bacoor, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed City Ordinance No. 32-2019 on 7 October 2019 one of the purposes of which is to strictly regulate reclamation and back-filling activities within the City of Bacoor. Also known as the 2018 Revised Expanded Real Estate Development Ordinance of the City of Bacoor, the said ordinance shall cover all juridical or natural persons applying for permits, clearances, or certificates related to any residential, commercial, or industrial land development or investment project or activity within the city including reclamation projects to be conducted in the municipal waters or waterways of Bacoor.
The ordinance aims to: (1) streamline the process of applying for the said permits, clearances, or certificates, (2) expedite the release of the said permits, clearances, or certificates, (3) improve the capability of the city government to implement the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance of the city, (4) assist informal settler/low-income families and small business owners in obtaining building permits, and (5) promote public welfare and safety.
Once approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the said ordinance shall empower the city government to collect reclamation fees equivalent to P1,000 per square meter of the area subject of reclamation. The revenues collected by virtue of the said ordinance shall be used to, among others, finance the cost of monitoring all the land development projects covered by the ordinance and to repair whatever environmental damage that the reclamation or back-filling activities might cause.
The ordinance shall also empower the city government to collect road maintenance fees from the owners, operators, or developers of residential subdivisions, condominiums, warehouses, commercial buildings and other enterprises such as malls and supermarkets that use trucks in the transportations of constructions supplies and materials, or other goods. The road maintenance fees to be collected under the ordinance shall in turn be used to repair any damage inflicted on city roads by the said trucks as well as finance the cost of assigning additional traffic management and road maintenance personnel on various thoroughfares.